He is about to complete the long run from Blacktown Little Athlete to Beijing Olympian after learning his appeal against a disqualification had been upheld.

The long jumper had been ruled out of Olympic contention for allegedly not supplying times for this year's Stawell Gift, in which he competed as a sprinter. The 24-year-old Lapierre had not competed as a runner since 2002.

``I found out through Athletics Australia that my appeal had been successful, it was a great moment,'' said Lapierre from Texas, where he is training with his coach Jim Vanhootegem.

Lapierre graduated from Texas A&M University at the end of last year and has maintained the link with Vanhootegem.

``I will head to Hong Kong at the start of August for the team camp and then make my way to Beijing from there,'' Lapierre said. ``My best jump is 8.19 metres and the best in the world this year is 8.73 metres although that was a one-off jump and the next best is 8.46metres. I don't want to put a limit on what I'm capable of, but I'm going in to the Olympics very confident and in good form.''

Lapierre has been destined to go to the Olympics since announcing himself as a prodigy with Blacktown Little As and being snapped up by Westfields Sports High. He won silver at the world junior championships in 2002, a scholarship to the Texas university in 2003 and the National Collegiate Athletics Association long jump title in 2005.

When Lapierre won bronze at the 2006 Commonwealth Games he showed he was progressing along the right path.

When he was eighth at the World Cup in Athens, Lapierre showed himself and rivals he was world class.

The Olympic experience won't be new; Lapierre worked as a volunteer runner for media at the Sydney Games.

If he hadn't concentrated on the long jump, Lapierre might have got to Beijing through the brief sprinting sideline that got him into trouble at the Stawell.

Lapierre was second in the 100 metres and first in the under-200 metres at the 2002 Australian championships. His father Maurice said the Lapierres would give up whatever was necessary to get to Beijing from their Quakers Hill home.

``It's going to be very hard to find the finance and find accommodation but we'll manage,'' Lapierre snr said.

``Were over the moon. If you make the last 16 at the Olympics, anything can happen.''

Now Lapierre is no longer foul of officialdom and is feeling confident, neither Beijing nor 8.25 metres is the limit.

``I intend to keep on competing until the 2016 Olympics,'' he said.